">Video of Into the Mix: 40 Years of Coeducation at Oxford The History of Women at Oxford It was thanks to individual initiatives, and the pioneering work of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women (AEW), that women's colleges came to be established in Oxford. Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville opened in 1879, followed by St Hugh's in 1886 and St Hilda's in 1893. St Anne's, which in 1952 was the last of the women's colleges to be incorporated by Royal Charter, originated as the Society of Oxford Home Students, catering for women students who lived with private families in Oxford while attending courses organised by the AEW. The five women's societies were granted full collegiate status in 1959. Five all-male colleges - Brasenose, Jesus College, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine's - first admitted women in 1974. St Hilda's College, which was originally for women only, was the last of Oxford's single sex colleges. All colleges have admitted both men and women since 2008.

The first woman to be appointed to a full professorship was Agnes Headlam-Morley, who became Montague Burton Professor of International Relations in October 1948. Ida Mann had become Reader in Ophthalmology in 1941 and Titular Professor from January 1945; however the Annual Report of the University for 1947-8 states that ' ...Miss Headlam-Morley... is the first woman to be elected to a full professorship at Oxford. Miss Ida Mann, who until 30 September 1947 was Margaret Ogilvie's Reader in Ophthalmology, held only the title of Professor... '. Both women were Fellows of St Hugh's College. In 1973 Balliol was the first of the traditional all-male colleges to elect a woman as a Fellow and Tutor. Oxford currently has ten female Heads of House: the Principals of Green Templeton College, Mansfield, St Hugh's, and Somerville; the Provost of Oriel; the Masters of Pembroke and St Cross; the Warden of St Antony's; and the Presidents of St John's and Wolfson.

In 1993 Professor Marilyn Butler, former Rector of Exeter, became the first female head of a former all-male college at either Oxford or Cambridge. In 2016 Professor Louise Richardson became the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Athena SWAN Awards Athena SWAN awards The Athena Swan Charter supports good employment practices for women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET). Going through the Athena SWAN application process gives universities and departments the space to reflect on, and celebrate, current organisational and cultural practices that promote gender equality in SET. Athena SWAN also offers a valuable framework for introducing cultural changes that create a better working environment for both men and women. The University of Oxford has held an institutional award since 2006. There is a significant amount of activity on Athena SWAN amongst departments at Oxford. All Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences, and Medical Sciences, departments are committed to the initiative. Our current award holders are listed here . A new Gender Equality Charter Mark for Humanities and Social Sciences, based on the Athena SWAN model, will be launched at the end of 2014.

BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Oxford college to stay women-only Oxford college to stay women-only No male faces will be seen at St Hilda's The last remaining all-female Oxford University college has decided not to admit men. The proposal, which would have allowed male fellows and students to join, failed to gain a two-thirds majority among fellows voting at St Hilda's. Many students had voiced strong opposition to change, saying that becoming a mixed institution would disadvantage women. It is understood the motion was defeated by just one vote. In recent years St Hilda's, opened in 1893, has found it increasingly difficult to attract students and recruit fellows. Opportunities Junior common room president Penny Berrill announced the result of the vote to cheers from anti-change protesters. Ms Berrill said she was "delighted" at the result, adding: "This is a positive result for women's education.

"I hope that the college will now look to the future and will continue to promote itself as being essential for women's academic excellence." But St Hilda's governing body member Dr Kathy Wilkes, a philosophy tutor, said: "For 20 years I have been asking the college to go mixed sex so you can imagine how I feel." Student Ailsa Longmuir, 20, added: "This has split St Hilda's down the middle. It has torn friendships apart." Two weeks ago, a poll of 311 of the college's 420 undergraduates found 57% in favour of keeping the college single sex and 43% against. St Hilda's is regularly found near the bottom of the Norrington Table, the university's informal academic rankings. Just 19.3% of Oxford's fellowship is female. Without St Hilda's the figure would drop to 17.2%. Women at the University of Oxford: Archival resources relating to the higher education of women in England Lady M argaret Hall he position of Archivist at Lady Margaret Hall is filled on a limited part-time basis by Mrs. Courtenay, a professional archivist by education and training.

Requests for access to the Archives are addressed to Mrs. Courtenay, but must be granted by the Governing Body of College, to which she reports. At the time of my visit, there was minimal administrative crossover to the Library. Records of the Governing Board are closed for 80 years from the date of origin; most other records remain closed for a period of 30 years. The Archives occupies a specially designated suite of rooms adjacent to the Principal's Office, and when Mrs. Courtenay is not at the College, messages for her are accepted in the office of the Principal. Lady Margaret Hall completed its first century as a college for women in June 1978, and celebrated the event with pomp and ceremony. That milestone and the details of its celebration are in the Centenary number of the College Brown Book for December 1978. In the following year (1979), however, LMH joined the ranks of "mixed" colleges with the admission of male undergraduates.

Whether it is a result of the neat closure implicit in finishing an unambiguously female first hundred years or some other factor, the original mission of female education and the woman's "voice" survives emphatically at LMH , with a well-bred modulation suited to the impeccable mallards that strolled the entrance quad at the time of my visit. Archives holdings are described in a 9-page statement, compiled mainly by Susan Reynolds, completed in April 1992, and made available to me. In addition to functioning as an inventory - largely at the group and sub-group level - it contains a clear and economical exposition of policies and enumerates the specifics of access to the collections. Lady Margaret Hall: Administrative Records: The LMH archives contain comprehensive documentation of the College's origins and governance. Council minutes and log books exist from 1878 and 1879, and Annual Reports from 1880 to the present, supplemented by extensive financial records. Treasurer's Account Books exist for 1879-1936, and a variety of financial records in other forms fills out the decades through the 1960s, with many categories tagged with an asterisk, to signify ongoing collecting.

Committee records range widely, from.War Work Committee minutes 1942-46 to over 40 years of uninterrupted Garden Committee minutes, listed through 1967 and ongoing. There is a folder of information relating to Chapel at LMH ("Bishop's license 1885), and then little seems to be available on the subject until the 1930s. Library committee minutes, on the other hand, begin relatively early (1898) and are currently collected. Principals' papers and personnel files, listed by Susan Reynolds, may provide further insight into administrative matters for the researcher who requests the appropriate detailed inventories from the Archivist. Under the heading of General Administration, administrative records for LMH overlap with some relating to the other Oxford colleges for women, and are part of what led me to expand my original survey. For instance, LMH holds information about St. Anne's incorporation in 1950-51, along with three folders about Principals' meetings of the five women's colleges 1968-73. There is also a suggestion of involvement with Cambridge in the file for the "Newnham alliance, 1933-58".

Lady Margaret Hall: Student and Alumnae Records: These are largely grouped as "Educational Documentation", and break down into categories familiar to overseas researchers: admissions materials, student registers, teaching schedules (1893-1909), and a promising collection of files for students which are in regular series from 1955 on, and occasional prior to that time. Offerings of the LMH Association ("formerly Old Student Society/Senior Members Association") might come closest to what we characterize as "student and alumnae records", the latter especially in Brown Book files (1892 to the present), with a range of coverage similar to an American women's college alumnae quarterly, plus student notes. Throughout, careful attention has been given to the chronology of records, so that a researcher interested in a specific period would be able to track it with ease across the inventoried groups. The inventory also contains a listing of deposits apparently not yet processed and interfiled, but accessible by subject and date so that an interested researcher attempting to gain some sense of the scope of existing material, can do so, regardless of its level of arrangement. St. Anne's College r.

David Smith, as senior librarian, provides access to St. Anne's archives as well as administering, with a second professional librarian, the College library of 100,000 volumes. The Library is a busy place, and traffic seemed to flow more quickly there than in the other Oxford colleges I visited. Both Dr. Smith and the woman's "voice" of the Society of 1879 seemed equally difficult at first to locate and isolate. As at Lady Margaret Hall, single sex education was offered to women at St. Anne's for 100 years, and the first male students entered in the fall of 1979. In contrast to LMH, however, which seems most accurately described as a woman's-college-which-now-admits-men, St. Anne's comes across as if it has always had a student body diversified not only by gender but by age as well (reflecting an early commitment to post-baccalaureate study).

It would be interesting, but beyond the point of this study, to examine whether the prevailing ambience is due to this, to the high ratio of out-of-country students currently enrolled there for graduate study, the relatively late development of the physical plant, a blend of these, or to something else entirely. In any case, I felt like an anachronism in search of an anachronism as Dr. Smith led me to a modest cupboard at the top of a flight of stairs and produced a key before he headed down the stairs to reenter the swirling currents of mainstream library activity. St. Anne's College: Administrative Records: The cupboard contains an arrangement of ten or a dozen groups, more like sub-groups, described partly by a list which outlines them and partly by a small card index. The combination of list and cards, both pragmatic and direct, provides access to the contents of the Archives cabinet. St. Anne's records are designated "SA"; further documentation about the modern physical plant exists in "AA" for Art and Architecture. Generally, chronology is not clear from the list alone, but one could establish it, and retrieve materials, by making more use of the card file than I took time to do.

The development of the college appears to be documented also in parallel files of personal papers. The papers of Bertha Jane Johnson, secretary of the AEW, lists materials relating to the question of degrees, a topic which appears also in the papers of her successor, Annie Mary Ann Rogers, as "the first move for degrees, 1895/96", and "the second move, 1908-1920". In addition to the records for St. Anne's, other holdings look extremely promising for information about interrelationships among the colleges and organizations which were instrumental in bringing women to Oxford. The determined researcher can trace the beginnings of the Association for the Education of Women in sets of annual reports and "calendars" complete from 1879 through 1920. "Delegacy for Women Students" encompasses nine sub-headings which include "Women Students' Union", "Memo from Women's Colleges", and "Entrances, degrees, results, etc.". St. Anne's College: Student and Alumnae Records: Information about the women of St. Anne's does not seem to be readily available from the cabinet list, although the "OHS" group looked like promising documentation for Oxford Home Students and St.

Anne's Society. More might be gleaned from two publications. The Fritillary, a magazine of literature and poetry, was an intercollegiate effort begun in 1896, and an issue for 1897 lists editorial representatives from the Home Students, Somerville, Lady Margaret Hall, and St. Hugh's. It provides information about student organizations, political activities and the like. The files also contain issues of The Daisy, a similar publishing effort. Named for ephemeral aspects of summer, both seem to have waxed and waned from season to season, with files at more than one college, though no attempt seemed to have been made to assemble a single complete set. Access to the cupboard materials is granted informally and readily by Dr. Smith, and for the time at least their location within the Library guarantees that they will continue to be available to researchers. This small but important gathering of materials seems to have potential for illuminating records at other Oxford colleges for women, and is in turn enhanced by them.

One hopes that in time its seminal importance and the context which it shares with other similar records in the University will become more widely recognized and established via appropriate mechanisms, even such simple ones as cross-listings and the distribution of relevant inventories. Somerville College iss Adams, Librarian of the College is also an alumna. Her part-time responsibility for the Archives is clearly an active one, well supported within the administrative structure and facilitated by library staff members occupying one and one-half positions in addition to her own. Administratively, Miss Adams reports directly to the Library Committee and the Governing Body of the College, and appears to have been and to continue to be quite free within this arrangement to develop the Archives. In 1990, her efforts and planning brought about the creation of an Archives Room, dedicated space consisting of a suite of three rooms outfitted with compact shelving. Acid-free storage materials seemed to be readily available and used with consistency. Somerville College. 1903.

[Click on image to enlarge it.] Miss Adams grants access to the collections and I was able to use a finding list which she has compiled from a survey of records stored both in the Library and throughout the College in what she described as a variety of "offices and cupboards and attics". The Library has generally housed older materials, while administrative units throughout the College have tended to retain their own records. Miss Adams has identified five locations where archival materials exist, and has adopted a system of color-coding to facilitate the ready integration of dispersed materials, when that becomes possible. If the Archives Room cannot accommodate all groups, Miss Adams has designated which would be shelved there, as well as the disposition of the others. Somerville: Administrative Records: Nine categories of records established by Miss Adams' list document the administration of Somerville. The categories are as follows: A. Constitutional B. Council/Governing Board and its statutory committees E. Educational Q. Buildings R. Research Constitutional records and those of the Council/Governing Board/committees (A and B, above) will remain shelved together in the space I saw.

If not brought to the Archives Room, categories F through Q will be kept together in another location; E and R will be retained by appropriate offices. Even at this preliminary stage of survey and description, the scope of the collections can be ascertained. Governing Board and Committee records in the Archives Room exist from the founding in 1879 through 1914. The gap which seems to exist until the 1940s and from the 1960s may well be filled in by materials in those categories I noted in two other locations ("Darbishire cupboard" and "Safe Cupboard"), where they are listed without chronological information. Educational records ("E") exist up to 1920 in the Archives Room, later records in a fourth location. Included are minutes of meetings of the "Society of Oxford Women Tutors" from 1909 to 1921, when the University finally voted to admit women to degrees. A minute book for the Central Committee of Oxford Women Undergraduates, 1921-32, documents the ten years following that significant victory.

The papers of Madeleine Shaw Lefevre, Agnes Maitland, Emily Penrose are presently shelved in the Archives Room, as are Principal's papers from the turn of the century and records for the Senior Common Room from 1934 through the second World War, into the 1950s. As in other cases where such papers exist, they supplement the administrative documentation. Somerville: Student and Alumnae Records: Student files as such are not available to researchers, nor are there any plans to make them so. While it may prove difficult in the future to reconstruct the female experience at Somerville without access to them at some time, it will still be possible to do so from alternative groups of material which parallel similar groups at the other colleges. Volumes of The Somerville College Register, together with a card index to it, exist in the College Secretary's Room, as do manuscript ledgers from the opening in 1879, which provide information about entering students. Miss Adams will entertain requests for access to these materials.

The records of the Junior Common Room, 1894-1920s, and of the Somerville Students' Association can be expected to fill out the picture of undergraduate life. In addition, "Women" appears as a subject heading in the Oxford University Gazette, and after 1921 as a second and separate alphabetical listing of the colleges, following the A-Z listing of men's colleges. If St. Anne's swirls with activity and Lady Margaret Hall's tone is gently modulated, Somerville projects confidence. It may or may not be relevant that Somerville is the first women's space one encounters walking north from the concentration of the men's colleges in the center of Oxford and thus physically closer to them than the other colleges which were or remain dedicated to women. I found the experience of sitting at High Table in the Senior Common Room that I recognized from a Dorothy Sayers television presentation a powerful reinforcement of the sense of place, and suspect it works that way for most who sit there. In addition, and somewhat unique among English colleges (though becoming less so, as they look to American models), the Alumnae Association is more than an abstraction at Somerville.

The network is strong, and has always been so - and was visible to all in 1992, when Margaret Thatcher and Iris Murdoch, among others, entered the debate that preserved Somerville's single-sex status, at least for the time being. Should that status be preserved, its archives for the 1990s will be at least as important as those for the 1890s. St. Hugh's College n what seems to have become a pattern, St. Hugh's rounded out a complete century as a college for women before admitting men in 1986. This statement in the 1992 Prospectus presents a forward looking self-image: "After one hundred successful years as a college for women, St. Hugh's is now firmly established as one of Oxford's newest mixed colleges". Deborah Quare, who administers a library of 69,000 volumes with the help of a graduate assistant, has responsibility for the archives as well. She grants access to all but student records, which reside in the office of the Secretary of the College, just across the hall from her own, a physical arrangement which facilitates interaction between the two.

To establish control over the archival collections, Miss Quare makes use of computer technology, in part as a logical extension of computer applications already in place in the main Library, and in part as a necessity to compensate for the absence of supplementary staff for either the library or archives. Collections can be accessed through two finding aids: a word processor list, essentially of titles, alphabetically arranged, and by subject. At the time of my visit, Miss Quare had used dBase III software to establish subject access by individual names, building names, organizations, events (both College events and such entries as Boer War and World Wars I and II), and by publication titles and two categories of Junior Common Room records, "New" and "Old". The advantages for quick reference access were clear as she produced a lengthy list of sources for information about "May Morning", a traditional observance at St. Hugh's. Somerville: Administrative Records: The alphabetical inventory will be integrated into dBase III as time and staff allow,. Even in its current form, it provides a picture of the archives of the college, confirming the existence of college by-laws, statutes and registers. While one expects to find documentation of St.

Hugh's history in these forms, similar and extensive entries for Somerville College (e.g. Somerville College Reports, 1896-1937),come as a surprise and underscore the apparent overlapping of documentation throughout the five colleges. It is not possible to elaborate within this survey how Somerville materials at St. Hugh's relate to similarly described materials at Somerville. A comparison would be interesting, and it would also be interesting to examine more closely the listings which appear in the St. Hugh's inventory for St. Anne's and St. Hilda's, and for the Association for the Education of Women. Files of the Fritillary, an intercollegiate literary magazine which appeared in 1896, exist at St. Hugh's for 1913-15, and sporadically through 1927, possibly supplementing runs of that periodical at St. Anne's and St. Hilda's.

Somerville: Student and Alumnae Records: Listings of scattered holdings for the AEW, International Student Service (1920s) and the Somerville Student Association (1909-1925 passim) suggest the range of resources relating to student life at St. Hugh's, together with the nature of its interrelationships with its sister institutions. The St. Hugh's Chronicle appears to be published yearly, and is a remarkably complete amalgam of what we find separately published in American colleges as a variety of administrative reports which review the distant and immediate past of the institution and Alumnae Quarterly features (especially the exhaustively researched obituary accounts). If what I found in the one issue I examined (1990/91) is typical of the publication in general, this could be a uniquely accessible tool for examining the lives of women who attended St. Hugh's during its first century, made especially significant given the relatively greater difficulty at other Oxford women's colleges of gaining access to student records. St. Hilda's College aria Croghan, a St.

Hilda's alumna, administers the College Library of approximately 60,000 volumes with the assistance of two full-time staff members, and - as at the other Colleges I visited where no archivist exists - Miss Croghan also is responsible for and grants access to St. Hilda's archives. In the familiar configuration. student records are separate from the archives, and reside at St. Hilda's with the College Secretary. At the time of my visit, St. Hilda's, founded in 1893, was approaching its centennial; at the time of this writing, it has passed it, and a centenary volume which was being prepared by M.E. Rayner is available/is expected to be available by ............. St. Hilda's completes its first century as a women's college whose single-sex dedication seems not to be in question As at Somerville, there is a strong alumnae association, which is growing stronger, at least partly because a Development Office has been established, along the lines of what exists at American colleges, which recognizes the importance of alumnae to College programs, and supports the strengthening of their ties with St. Hilda's. Some of the most unique materials in St.

Hilda, potentially of great importance to researchers, are the papers relating to Cheltenham Ladies' College, and especially to Dorothea S. Beale, headmistress at CLC and founder of St. Hilda's. She, her contemporary, Frances Mary Buss of North London Collegiate School, together with Lillian Faithfull of King's College and Royal Holloway, are figures who must be dealt with in any treatment of the how and why of higher education for women in England. In fact, St. Hilda's and CLC remained connected until their constitutional separation in the 1920s, at the time of the granting of full university membership to women. The archives include files of the Cheltenham Ladies' College Magazine, 1898-1952, and Beale's history of CLC, 1853-1904. Correspondence at St. Hilda's is indexed by letter writer as well as by recipient, and includes Beale's correspondence.

In addition, a promising adjunct to correspondence seems to be "Biography and original work, A-Z", which includes additional Beale material, and appears to encompass at least some files of personal papers of students, faculty, and administrators, arranged by surname. The Archives is housed in the Library, but, as at Somerville, archival materials also exist in scattered locations throughout the College. A card catalogue which provides access by topic also assists in the identification of archival groups which parallel those at other colleges. St. Hilda's: Administrative Records: The researcher interested in administrative records finds them under subject headings in the card catalogue: minute books of the Council and committees from the founding , staff meetings minutes, annual reports , reports of tutors and teachers (1898-1910) all provide access. While minute books of the Council begin three years after the founding, there are numerous listings under "History", from "prefoundation" to at least as late as the 1960s. In what appears to be a significant departure from the pattern at the other Oxford women's colleges, St. Hilda's administrative records, appear to be far less dominant in the archives than records of students and alumnae. St.

Hilda's: Student and Alumnae Records: As in the St. Hugh's Chronicle, extensive biographical information about alumnae is included in the St. Hilda's Register, 1893-1944, with a comprehensive Centennial Register planned (released?? date?). The card catalogue heading for "Undergraduates" uncovers correspondence around the turn of the century, in which an undergraduate is often the subject rather than the author. This apparently unique feature needs further exploration. Programs of theatricals, records of tutor appointments, [student?] drawings and a 1979 Junior Common Room survey augment the body of information about undergraduates. The Fritillary has come to rest here as at St. Anne's and St. Hugh's, and St. Hilda's may well have the most complete set, 1896-1930. Headings for "Women..." open a range of possibilities beyond St. Hilda's.

For example, Lady Margaret Hall is mentioned in material relating to women and war (1913-18, 1939-45), and a 16-page brochure, The Four Oxford Women's Colleges, was published in 1923 and is inventoried under "Women's Education". Chronological notations spanning 1912 through at least 1930 occur throughout these materials. Oral histories, consisting of 30-33 interviews with ..............were conducted in.....................by..........They are listed as "Sound Archives". The only other oral history collection I encountered was at Girton College, Cambridge. The card index suggests that material has been collected here and grouped rather more deliberately than elsewhere to reflect origins and interrelationships. If this is so, St. Hilda's records could be a useful element for a comparative study of the resources relating to the history of women at Oxford. BBC NEWS | UK | England | Oxfordshire | St Hilda's College to admit men Printable version St Hilda's College to admit men The last all-women college at Oxford University is to end more than a century of tradition by opening its doors to men.

The governing body of St Hilda's held a meeting on Wednesday at which it exceeded a two-thirds majority needed in two rounds of voting. It means the college's charter and statutes will be changed to admit men as students and governors. St Hilda's became the last all-women college at the university in 1994. Our commitment to supporting women's careers remains a priority Principal Lady English The move follows proposals last year and a consultation period with students - which received mixed views. Many of the 500 undergraduates, postgraduates and visiting students said they felt the college's quiet atmosphere of study and reflection would change if the college became co-educational. Famous alumnae Male students could now be admitted to St Hilda's, which was founded in 1893, as early as October 2007. Its alumnae include poets Wendy Cope and Jenny Joseph, former MP and former Conservative party deputy chair Baroness Shephard of Northwold, Lib Dem MP for Richmond Park Susan Kramer and BBC journalist and news presenter Zeinab Badawi.

Principal Lady English said: "This is an important decision for St Hilda's, which opens up new and exciting opportunities, in line with the strategic agenda adopted a year ago. "We are proud of our heritage as a women's college but plan to build on that with a new focus for the 21st Century, now that women can go to every college in Oxford. Strengthening science "We want to ensure that St Hilda's provides an excellent environment for women, but within a mixed community," she added. "The ability to consider men as well as women for fellowship appointments will have immediate benefit by allowing us to strengthen our science teaching. However, our commitment to supporting women's careers remains a priority." Somerville College, whose famous old girls include Margaret Thatcher, was the last Oxford University college to announce it would admit men when it changed its charter 12 years ago. Other colleges at the university that have opened their doors to men include St Hugh's in 1985, St Anne's in 1979 and Lady Margaret Hall, also in 1979. Thank you for your views and experiences of the change at St Hilda's College.

The comments below reflect the balance of opinion we received: As a former Hilda's student I'm disappointed by the decision, but not surprised, the practicalities of staying single sex are tough. By the way, anyone who thinks single sex educational institutions are archaic clearly hasn't been to one like Hilda's - it was brilliant! Mairi Brookes, LA, USA As a former member of St. Hilda's, I was delighted to hear the news that St. Hilda's will admit both men and women. I subsequently attended a mixed college in Cambridge and the social life was very much better. Congratulations Lady English! Susan, New York, USA I am a student at St Mary's College in Durham which went mixed this year. I was against the change at the time and I haven't changed my mind. To me the atmosphere of the college has totally changed and not for the better. I'm sad to hear that St Hilda's has taken this decision. Ellie, Durham As a current graduate at St Hilda's, I would just like to correct some of the comments made by others below.

Firstly, this vote is *not* the first in ten years - the last one was held only in 2003, and the issue has not been allowed to rest since then. And the oppressive, depressive attitude which does not reflect any pride in who we are, has generally affected the fellowship, the current student body, and thus has also been perceived by prospective students, not helping us to attract applicants. All in all, we have let the college, its past, present and future members down, and I think the decision made today was a terrible cop out. Anna, Oxford In my opinion the college is a warm environment and women who excel at the college use the resources of both St Hildaï¿½s and the whole university to the maximum. As a current second year undergraduate I feel that it has been an amazing experience. I am convinced that, as long as the ethos of the college does not change, Hildaï¿½s will continue to produce first class female and male graduates as well as remaining the top college for English: seven firsts and five 2.1 results last finals I believe. Hereï¿½s to Hildaï¿½s 2006!

Jennifer Newby, Oxford, I graduated from St Hilda's last year and during my time there, my views swung from fervently pro-mixed when I first arrived, to pro-single-sex by the time I left. I think that reflects the positive experience that the college provided. I can relate to the sadness of some who feel the college they knew and loved will vanish. I can understand the need for better tutors and more accomplished interview candidates, but I have to say that the external tutors during my time at Hilda's were fantastic, and it did not matter that they didn't sit on the governing body. St. Hilda's as we know it: RIP. Nicky, Oxford Today is a day which will be remembered in years to come- the day St. Hilda's waved goodbye to the factor which made it unique in Oxford and loved so much by its alumnae. How sad. (St. Hilda's 2000-2004) Arlene, Cambridge, UK I attended Oxford University from 2000-2004 and my girlfriend attended St. Hilda's during that time.

I am a member of an all male sports society at Oxford and although maintaining single sex institutions in today's society may be viewed as "archaic", there is something unique and traditional about them which is why I am disappointed that St Hilda's has changed. Julian Barker-Danby, London, UK We have lost a valuable part of the university: an option for women who were not (or whose families were not) comfortable with studying in a co-educational environment. On the other hand, it's also true that Hilda's suffered some special stigma in admissions. Something needed to be done, but now the reform is only half-done. Nathan Hill, Oxford I'm delighted that St Hilda's has gone mixed. I was determined to go to a mixed college in Cambridge despite pressure from my school to apply to a women's college. I hated being at an all-girls school and loved the mixed college I attended. It's a much more natural way to learn as well as to socialise. I'm now very proud to be a lecturer at UCL, the first university in this country to admit women on an equal basis. I hope New Hall and Newnham at Cambridge follow UCL's - and St Hilda's -lead.

Claire, Cambridge, England I was involved in campaigning against the last vote in 2003. This time I was glad to see that the vote was both fair and transparent. I loved my time as a Hildabeast and have always been inclined to believe that too many of the college's problems were unfairly blamed on its being single sex. I think most people who've been would agree, there's never been a shortage of men in St Hilda's! Hilda Cat, London As a current undergraduate of Christ's College Cambridge, I am very pleased to hear that St Hilda's is to go mixed, and I hope that Newnham and New Hall will follow, as I know several women at both of these colleges that dislike the all-female atmospheres. Having come from a single-sex state school myself, I have become a lot more relaxed in entering a mixed environment... and later on, in the "real world" I'll have to deal with men - you can't avoid them forever! Charlotte As a graduate from Newnham it's sad to hear the news. Going to an all-woman college was a fantastic experience and one that I hope many more women in the future can enjoy.

Having female role models who work in academia was priceless - with less than 5% of professors in this country being women, Newnham provided inspiration for the future. This shouldn't be seen as an outdated mode of education, it's still pioneering. Katy, London As a current postgraduate at St. Hilda's I find the governing body's decision deeply regrettable. While a women's college may seem anachronistic in the wider context of Higher Education across the UK, it has a necessary and vital part to play within Oxford University. Female lecturers and professors are hugely outnumbered by their male counterparts within the university and St. Hilda's worked both as a small counterbalance to this and, more importantly, as a reminder that there is still more to be done in truly winning equality for women's education. Alex da Costa, Oxford I'm at Newnham College, Cambridge, one of three that is still single sexed. I know that I would miss the atmosphere I have at college if we went co-ed.

I work in science so I am surrounded by men all day and am often the only woman so I really appreciate going home to a house full of girls where I don't have to constantly compete with my peers just because of my gender. St Hilda's will be missed. Hetal Kiran Patel, Cambridge As a graduate of a women's college in the United States, I am saddened to hear that St. Hilda's has decided to go co-ed. I feel that women's colleges are still relevant to the 21st century and will continue to have a place in education until women achieve full equality in society. I attribute my years at a women's college to fostering a sense of confidence that I see lacking in so many women on both sides of the pond. Melissa M Bellitto, London, UK I'm not sure it will make much difference, to be honest. I was an undergrad at Magdalen down the road (1997-2001) and spent a large proportion of my time in Oxford at St Hilda's, as did a good few other fellow male students! Alex Metcalfe, London I was an undergraduate at St.

Hilda's from 1983 - 1986 and feel it is a great shame that it is going mixed. I studied Physics and it was great having other female physicists to interact with at St. Hilda's. For most of my female friends at mixed colleges they were the only female and therefore somewhat isolated in a male dominated subject. Melanie Tribble, Cambridge, England Colleges that refuse entry to people solely on the basis of their sex should have no place in our society. I very much hope the three colleges at Cambridge who so wholeheartedly practice such obvious discrimination also change their policies. Otherwise they should be forced to close their doors to women as well as men. James, Cambridge As an alumna of the college, I was extremely upset to hear the news. There is much that needs to be done to address the inequality within the University and St Hilda's went towards addressing that imbalance. St Hilda's was a wonderful college offering fantastic support to women, at all levels, both in the college and within the university. Its charm was partly due to the fact it was at the forefront of women's education. Hilda's girls have achieved high positions across university societies and organisations.

This is testament to the fact Hilda's produced intelligent women, confident of their own abilities. The onus is now on the University to address inequality and prejudice within the university and departments. Sarah Easton, Cambridge I am an undergraduate at St Hilda's and I am really pleased that we are finally going mixed. I do not think there is any particularly unique atmosphere, nor do I think tradition is any reason to stay single-sex: Traditionally women were not allowed into Oxford at all. A very small minority of students are making it seem like more people want it to stay single sex than not, which is not true. The objectors are merely louder and making an uncomfortable atmosphere for those that do support the news to have their say. Emma, Oxford I think that although I initially had my misgivings about going to an all-girls college (I did an open application), the atmosphere is wonderful - being able to walk around in PJ's to a film fest in another building, etc. I don't particularly mind it going mixed, just regret to be seeing the end of a part of the college's history. Freya Freestone, Oxford St Mary's in Durham 'went mixed' last October after 103 years as an all female college.

It was the last single sex college at Durham, and at the time I was very disappointed that it would be changing. As Mary's approaches the end of the Academic year I am happy to find that I was completely wrong and I really don't notice a difference with the atmosphere, cleanliness, noise etc. I'm sure Hilda's will find the change equally sucessful! Caroline Wrixon, Durham, England It is a shame this has happened. Almost all of the Cambridge colleges are male dominated and as a lesbian I found that New Hall in Cambridge was the perfect place for me to go. Such an all female environment is not only a great place to meet people but also a very encouraging and supportive arena for me to develop academically. Samantha Gunning, Cambridge, England As a graduate of St Hilda's I have mixed feelings about this news. During my time at Oxford it was clear that women were desperately under-represented at a number of the larger colleges. Assuming that little has changed in this respect over the past 10 years or so there must be a concern that the admission of men will further exacerbate this issue.

Having said this, given that single sex status has an impact on the college's ability to appoint quality staff, I think the right decision has been taken. Sarah, London I graduated from St. Hilda's last year and am really pleased to hear the news. I don't think it will change the friendly atmosphere of the college but it does mean the college will be able to encourage good male tutors to stay now that there is the potential for them to be appointed as fellows. Sarah, Oxford, England As a current undergraduate at St Hilda's, I would like to express the sadness I feel in relation to the recent decision to admit men. St Hilda's College, I feel, is a truly special place which a unique atmosphere which I feel will not be upheld with the admission of men. Although I understand the positive reasons for the change, I do not support it, but am glad that the governing body are taking steps to attempt to provide a place in which students who wish to remain in single sex education can live, however the abolishment of our single sex policy will cause much upset amongst many current students and alumni. Jemma Snell, Oxford I went to St Hilda's against my wishes thinking that it was an anachronistic institution.

I soon realized that it was the University rather than the college that was truly anachronistic. Oxford has an extremely strong male bias and there were many occasions when I found myself in large groups of people where I was the only female. St Hilda's played a role in levelling the imbalance that can be felt in many areas of the university and I feel that the college should not have made this move until the university in the broadest sense had become a more inclusive place. Mary Strong, Cambridge While some of St Hilda's current charm may be lost as a result of this change, tradition alone shouldn't keep the college single sex. It's good to see this move, I hope Newnham and New Hall will follow. Jennifer Crossley, Cambridge, England As a current undergraduate, I feel that it is a travesty that St Hilda's intends to go mixed in the future. For many girls this college is the only opportunity for higher education. The vote taken today will prevent many girls in the future going to university. We have all chosen to come to an all female environment; nobody was forced to accept a place here.

Vanessa, Oxford, England My time at Hilda's was wonderful, and its single-sex status was part of its charm. I feel as if the college that I went to no longer exists. (St. Hilda's 2000-2003) Sophia Woodley, Oxford, UK Ultimately it will drive up standards at Hilda's which always languished at the bottom of the Norrington Table. During my time there I came across far more Hilda girls who hated it than loved it, so it should make them happier now! Alex Langridge, New York, US As a current undergraduate of Newnham College, one of three remaining all-women colleges in Cambridge, I am sad to hear of the changes at St Hilda's. I can sympathise with their position however: this is the second time they have voted on the issue, and such changes are not put through lightly. There is no evidence that introducing men would actually improve the results of the female students but add-in better results from men. I am also sad that the social side of things has changed: many students at Newnham come from religious backgrounds which mean they prefer to live slightly apart from men, and this is human right which should be respected.

But that's ok - apply to Newnham instead! Elizabeth Lawrenson, Cambridge, England As a current student at St Hilda's I am deeply saddened by the decision. It feels as though the College has been forced to submit to great pressure laid upon us by the rest of the University. How come Cambridge's three all-female colleges can flourish whilst Oxford's one apparently can't? I did not apply to Hilda's but now I am here I love it. It is unique and special because of its single sex status; this should be celebrated rather than surrendered. Emily, Oxford It's a fine college which has achieved great academic success recently. I'm sure it will continue to flourish under the new order. Harriet Vane, Oxford A great pity. Whilst I was dubious about attending an all-girls college, I and many others find it a tremendously enriching environment, free of some tensions that are experienced in mixed colleges. There's also the huge advantage that we all get out of college to meet lots of other people - it's the least insular college in Oxford. Miranda, Oxford As a current undergraduate of St. Hilda's, I am extremely relieved at this decision.

I probably won't be here to see the change, but I am glad that my college has decided to move forward and accept progress anyhow. Ana, Oxford I and many others only ended up at St Hilda's since our first choice rejected us during the interview process - no longer can they use it as a convenient place to divert female students who would much rather go to a mixed college. Jane Smithy, Oxford As a graduate student, I am constantly dealing with issues of access and equity in education. With the role of women continually underrepresented in higher education, the decision of St Hilda's to admit men is a blow to access of women and the purported commitment of the college to women in education. With all other colleges at the University admitting men and seeking female applicants, I cannot truly believe that St Hilda's is meeting a need in the University or has previously been dashing the hopes of the prospective male Oxford applicant through their position. Ann Benton, Ann Arbor, MI, USA It is a sad day for Hildabeasts everywhere... But I bet there will be fewer men around though!

St Hilda's 1996-2000 Clare Alexander, St Albans As a former member of St Hilda's College I am very disappointed that it will not be remaining single sex. Being an all-women college was part of its charm and character and it is sad that this unique quality will now be lost forever. Pippa Ireland, London, UK I was one of the first men to go to Somerville College in 1994 - the penultimate women's college in Oxford to go co-ed. The reasons given then were better academic results. From what I can tell results did improve (in time), though my antecedents have commented that some of the unique spirit of the place has gone. If the first men at St Hilda's have half the fun we did, they will be lucky indeed. Good luck to them. Tim, London I think it is a shame that there is now no women's only college in Oxford, I myself am a Cambridge graduate, from New Hall, it wasn't my choice to go there, but in the end I loved it. I'll be very sad if New Hall and Newnham go the same way. Anne Rogers, Cambridge About time too.

Were it the other way round and an all-male college I'm sure they would have come under greater pressure to reform. Equality goes both ways. Keeping students apart on gender grounds is archaic. After all, will they not have to work and live with people of the opposite sex in the wider world? Alisdair Matheson, Glasgow, Scotland

Question: Which is the only remaining women's college in Oxford University?
Answer: ST. HILDA'S